Jerky food products are a popular food item enjoyed by consumers, with the most popular type most likely being beef jerky. Jerky food products date back several years where people slowly cured, smoked and dried meat in order to ensure nourishment during hard times and winter months. An effective method or preserving meat for an extended period of time, the during and smoking process was used on foods such as venison, buffalo, and elk. To increase palatability and flavor, some rubbed berries onto the jerky prior to drying to produce a tangy jerky known as Pemmican. Others treated their meat with spices and other flavorful foods. Cured in smoke houses and slowly dried over an open fire, jerky products quickly became a staple food item. These products have only increased in popularity with the vast improvements made to production methods. Today, while jerky food products are produced in large scale quantities, there are still many who enjoy producing homemade jerky.
The manufacture of jerky food products on a large scale is accomplished using a variety of different methods. In one conventional method, jerky food products are prepared and produced in mass quantities by cutting large slabs of prepared meat dough. As part of the process, the basic materials desired for forming the jerky are first ground to a selected consistency. Different components may be ground to different degrees of coarseness in order to form a more desirable consistency in the finished jerky product. After the jerky components are ground, they are blended with suitable curing agents or seasonings. After the components are ground and suitably cured or seasoned, the mix is then prepared in slabs having a thickness of from about one to one and one-half inches. The slabs are then deposited in a freezing chamber and allowed to remain there until frozen or sufficiently chilled to permit them to be cut into thin slices.
After the slabs of jerky are suitably chilled or frozen, they are removed from the freezer and cut into thin slices having as uniform a thickness as possible. The thin slices of frozen jerky are then deposited upon a conveyor and carried through a drying chamber. Either before or after entry of the jerky slices into the drying chamber, they commence to thaw and, after thawing, remain in the drying chamber until sufficient moisture is removed from the slices so that they may be stored at room temperature for extended periods of time. If desired for purposes of imparting additional flavoring or for preservation of the jerky, the slices may also be smoked, which smoking may be accomplished within the drying chamber. After the jerky slices are dried, and smoked, if desired, they are removed from the drying chamber and conveyed to a suitable packaging station where the jerky is prepared for sale.
One problem associated with preparing or producing a jerky product using this particular method is that it is time consuming. During the chilling or freezing stage, much time is needed to properly chill the slabs of meat dough, which can be rather thick. In addition, this extra step can be expensive, both in terms of equipment costs, as well as in labor costs as the entire duration of the process is lengthened.
In another, more modern, conventional method for large scale production, jerky food products are produced using a rotary mold. In this process, a meat dough is formed and cooled. Formation of the individual jerky pieces is preferably done by first sheeting the dough prior to its delivery to the rotary molder. The sheeting may be performed between counter rotating rollers or by other methods. The sheet may then be fed to the rotary molder, which forms pieces in a desired shape. The rotary molder generally comprises a rotating feeding drum or roll that is corrugated or provided with a plurality of ribs for feeding purposes. Positioned adjacent to the feeding drum is a rotary molding drum or roll. The rotary molding drum may be provided with a plurality of molding cavities positioned in a particular arrangement about the surface of the drum. Positioned beneath the rotary molding drum is a pressing drum or forming roll. A continuous conveyor is supported and fed between the rotary molding drum and the pressing drum. The continuous conveyor functions to receive the jerky pieces leaving the rotary molding drum.
In still another conventional method for large scale production, jerky food products are produced using an extrusion process, wherein the jerky products are formed by cutting or slicing an extruded meat dough. However, the step of slicing typically requires that the extruded meat dough be in a solid or semi-solid state, which may be achieved by first chilling or freezing the meat dough. Although this helps to facilitate accurate slicing, this is a time consuming and costly step in the process.
In addition to the inherent problems described above, commercial methods for producing jerky food products, while suitable for large scale production, offer little or no corresponding practical application for residential use, except perhaps for the method describing the cutting of frozen slabs of meat dough. However, as mentioned above, producing homemade jerky products is a popular practice participated in and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. These people include farmers, hunters, fisherman, campers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, as well as others simply desiring to include jerky as part of their selection of foods. Mixing up batches of curing spices and drying meat in the oven or in dryers, consumers find that homemade jerky products are much more flavorful and fresh as opposed to their packaged, store-bought counterparts.
Typical homemade jerky products are produced by first cutting meat into large slabs and then freezing the slabs. Once frozen, the meat slabs may be cut into thin slices using a knife or power slicer. Once the meat is in slices, the meat can then be cured, dried, and cooked to obtain a jerky food product using conventional ovens, dehydrators, and dryers. Alternatively, some grinders and extruders are available for home use, giving consumers the option to produce a meat dough. However, this still requires the meat dough to be in a solid or semi-solid state to facilitate cutting.